HOUSTON – About 400 delegates of the Green Party gathered in Houston Thursday to nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
So why is the party that advocates a ban on fracking and more reliance on alternative fuels meeting in the oil capital of the world?
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"We're putting out the message that we've got to break the addiction to fossil fuels. That it's really an emergency this century. The great crisis of the 20th century is climate change," Scott McLarty, media director of the Green Party, said.
Party officials also said the Texas state party offered the best proposal for hosting the convention.
Normally polling less than 5 percent of the electorate, the Greens believe the ascendance of Bernie Sanders signals a desire by voters for an alternative.
"Two parties have been in bed with each other so long that we need a third party to come in and mediate right," Green Party delegate Howard Switzer said.
Some polls also show greater than usual voter dissatisfaction with Republican contender Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
"People are looking for someone, who's somebody I can trust, who is someone authentic, who's not taking special interest money," Arn Menconi, Green Party delegate from Colorado, said.
The Green Party is expected to nominate Dr. Jill Stein of Massachusetts as its presidential candidate. Stein has described both Trump and Clinton as destructive.
Rice University professor Mark Jones estimates Stein can only attract about 3 percent of the national vote, but that could be significant in a close race.
"It could matter in a close election, and if Clinton were to lose the election, it would send a clear message to the Democratic Party that perhaps it needs to move to the left," Jones said.